Picchio dal Pozzo -

Picchio dal Pozzo are an Italian avant-jazz/rock band from Genova, Liguria, formed in 1973. The band debuted with a 1976 self-titled album on Grog Records, followed by the 1980 L’Orchestra release Abbiamo Tutti i Suoi Problemi. Cuneiform later issued Camere Zimmer Rooms, comprised of tracks from an intended 1977 album.

Members: Aldo De Scalzi (keyboards, percussion, guitar, saxophone, vocals), Paolo Griguolo (guitar, percussion, clarinet, flute, vocals), Giorgio Karaghiosoff (saxophone, flute, percussion, vocals), Andrea Beccari (bass, percussion, flute, vocals), Claudio Lugo (saxophone, flute), Roberto Romani (saxophone, flute, clarinet), Aldo Di Marco (drums, percussion, keyboards)

Background

Picchio dal Pozzo’s roots trace back to Genoa in 1973, when bassist Andrea Beccari, keyboardist Aldo De Scalzi, guitarist Paolo Griguolo, and drummer Giorgio Karaghiosoff began playing together. The band members themselves had known each other since early childhood, meeting in kindergarten in 1961 and later attending a German-language school together, where they shared both strict academic discipline and early music training.

De Scalzi grew up immersed in music and recording through his family. His father, Gianni, had been a local restaurateur and dance hall owner since the 1950s, and his older brother Vittorio co-founded the New Trolls in 1966. The brothers also launched Genoa’s first professional recording facility, Studio G, and its associated Magma Records label in 1973, which produced several progressive acts. Aldo worked at the studio as a sound engineer by day while playing with his schoolmates at night, with free access to the studio’s instruments and equipment.

By late 1975, the quartet had assembled enough material for an album but still lacked a name. The choice emerged almost accidentally: Karaghiosoff arrived one day with a collage-poem whose final image depicted a knight-like figure beside a well. The phrase Picchio dal Pozzo (“Woodpecker from the Well”) was suggested on the spot and stuck. The album’s cover art was chosen just as spontaneously—De Scalzi pointing to a children’s calendar on the studio wall—while other small, personal touches, like inserting a cousin’s face into the imagery, rounded out the presentation.

From their formative exposure to Carl Orff’s works, the group’s listening expanded to include Frank Zappa and the Canterbury scene, setting the eclectic foundation for their first album.

Picchio dal Pozzo

Picchio dal Pozzo released their self-titled debut album in 1976 on Grog, a short-lived indie label distributed by Fonit Cetra. The music threads jazz-rock interplay, pastoral chamber passages, and absurdist collage into a sequence of distinct yet interconnected pieces.

“Merta” opens with bright guitar figures and glockenspiel, shifting through asymmetrical rhythms before electric piano textures deepen the sound. “Cocomelastico” rides a legato cymbal pulse as sax and organ trade phrases, momentarily interrupted by playful vocal fragments. The ten-minute “Seppia” unfolds in three sections, from a slow-blooming horn and keyboard prelude into a heavy, fuzz-bass driven expanse layered with xylophone, cosmic electronics, and surreal vocal interjections, later breaking into a pastoral flute-and-chorus close. “Bofonchia” bridges sides with a brief guitar and flute interlude.

On side two, “Napier” juxtaposes flute-led dissonance, dense ensemble bursts, and airy electric piano passages. “La floricultura di Tschincinnata” alternates crisp instrumental runs with exuberant vocal harmonies, then collapses in a sonic spiral. “La bolla” moves at a languid pace with sax, guitar, and light vocals rested over rolling piano patterns. “Off” closes the record in restrained fashion, its piano and flute lines settling into a pastoral fade.

Picchio dal Pozzo features sundry percussion and vocals by keyboardist Aldo De Scalzi, guitarist Paolo Griguolo, reedist Giorgio Karaghiosoff, and bassist Andrea Beccari. “Seppia” features “xilomarimba” by serial malletist Ciro Perrino (La Compagnia Digitale, SNC, St. Tropez).

Hay Fay
A1. “Merta” (3:18)
A2. “Cocomelastico” (4:23)
A3. “Seppia” (10:17)
— a. “Sottotitolo”
— b. “Frescofresco”
— c. “Rusf”
A4. “Bofonchia” (0:51)

Fay Hay
B1. “Napier” (7:22)
B2. “La floricultura di Tschincinnata” (4:23)
B3. “La bolla” (4:29)
B4. “Off” (4:47)

Sessions occurred at Studio G, Genova, back-to-back with the New Trolls’ 1976 Magma Records release, Concerto Grosso N° 2. The cover image — a procession of guards through a palace gate — comes from a children’s book by Hamburg author Verlag Heinrich Ellermann.

Aldo De Scalzi also played on select tracks on 1976 albums by Latte e Miele (“Pavana,” Aquile e Scoiattoli) and Grog labelmates Celeste (“Eftus”) and Mandillo. Picchio dal Pozzo became Grog’s third of four LP releases (cat# GRL 03) between Celeste and the self-titled by Corte dei Miracoli.

In the four-year gap between albums, De Scalzi and Griguolo co-engineered the 1977 Vanilla Records titles Io Dentro and Io Fuori by singer/actress Ornella Vanoni. De Scalzi also played bass and guitar on A Çittae de Föe, the 1978 Area Records debut by folk singer Franca Lai. Meanwhile, Picchio dal Pozzo recorded 25-minutes of music of an unfinished followup album, then started anew as a reconfigured quintet.

Abbiamo Tutti i Suoi Problemi

Picchio dal Pozzo released their second album, Abbiamo Tutti i Suoi Problemi, in 1980 on L’Orchestra. The title translates to “We All Have Your Problems.”

The album features the core trio — guitarist Paolo Griguolo, bassist Andrea Beccari, multi-instrumentalist Aldo De Scalzi (piano, organ, saxophone, guitar) — joined by drummer/vibraphonist Aldo Di Marco and reedist Roberto Romani, who plays saxophone, flute, and clarinet. Griguolo and Beccari both add recorder to the mix.

Abbiamo Tutti i Suoi Problemi moves in tightly constructed, often fragmented sequences where horns, reeds, vibes, and keys collide and discombobulate. The “La Sgargianza” suite punctuates the record in short, surreal episodes, its voice fragments and percussion collages setting a wry, disjointed tone. “I Problemi di Ferdinando P.” flows on organ and sax phrases bound by chamber-like precision, while “Moderno Ballabile” threads sax-and-keyboard exchanges through abrupt percussion breaks, bursts of dissonance, and spoken word.

“Strativari” shifts between bass-and-electric-piano foundations, vibraphone interjections, sudden silences, and flute passages before re-entering dense ensemble sections. The extended “Mettiamo il Caso Che” offsets pastoral vocals and recurring thematic recalls with gradual rhythmic build, cross-patterned interplay, and sudden expansions into full-group force. Closer “Uccellin del Bosco” turns sharp-paced and humor-tinged, moving between triple-meter flow and jagged, more forceful turns.

A1. “La Sgargianza – Parte I” [“Flamboyance – Part I”] (0:49)
A2. “I Problemi Di Ferdinando P. (Abbiamo Tutti I Suoi Problemi)” (7:29)
A3. “La Sgargianza – Parte II” (0:51)
A4. “Moderno Ballabile (Richiesta Con Dedica)” [“Modern Dance Tune (Request with Dedication)”] (10:08)
A5. “La Sgargianza – Parte III e IV” (1:25)

B1. “Strativari” (5:51)
B2. “Mettiamo Il Caso Che… (Seconda Parte)” [“Let’s Suppose That…”] (16:00)

C. “Uccellin Del Bosco” [“Little Bird of the Woods”] (3:18)

“Uccellin Del Bosco” appeared with original copies as a bonus flexi-disc. Later vinyl and CD versions of Abbiamo Tutti include the song as the eighth track. It also appeared on Recommended Records Sampler, a 1982 double-album with cuts by Art Zoyd, Aksak Maboul, Conventum, Goebbels & Harth, Henry Cow, The Muffins, Stormy Six, This Heat, and Univers Zero.

Aldo Di Marco joined Ensemble Havadià for their 1981 album on L’Orchestra.

Camere Zimmer Rooms

In 2001, Cuneiform issued Camere Zimmer Rooms, which gathers an unfinished 1977 Picchio dal Pozzo album with “Pinguini,” an Abbiamo outtake.

Aldo De Scalzi plays Hammond and Galaxy organs on the material, which features the Abbiamo lineup plus saxophonist Claudio Lugo and earlier reedist Giorgio Karaghiosoff. The music advances their Area-like blend of avant-garde jazz-rock and comedy.

“Il Presidente” drives solemn horn lines and forceful vocals through layered jazz interplay, then bursts into tight ensemble surges before a brassy, expansive close. “Il Mare d’Irlanda” lays treated guitars, echoing choral voices, and a flanged rhythm section over a subdued pace, its dreamlike air broken by understated horn-led exchanges.

“La Città” opens with a collage of urban sound, then shifts to piano and near-spoken delivery, trading voice and brass in aggressive turns with shades of dissonance before it eases into a soft, fading close. “Pinguini” alternates between spirited ensemble surges, dissonant horn flares, and stripped-back piano-and-voice interludes, detours into abstract textures, then returns to denser interplay. A brief reprise of earlier themes closes the set with succinct, deliberate finality.

1. “The President = Il Presidente” (9:37)
2. “The Sea of Ireland = Il Mare D’Irlanda” (6:20)
3. “The Town = La Citta'” (13:12)
4. “The Penguins = Pinguini” (13:42)
5. “The Irish Ghost = Il Fantasma D’Irlanda” (0:40)

Discography: